Asia
Apple March event: New iPad and iPhone models to be released in coming weeks, rumour suggests
Apple is to release a whole host of new products in the coming weeks, according to rumours. The company will hold its fairly regular spring event this year and use it to introduce updates to the iPad Pro as well as new models of the iPhone, according to reports. Apple has held a March event most years, focusing on new products outside of its iPhone line, with a particlar focus on the iPad. The spring event is one of three major keynotes that it hosts, which also include June's WWDC developer event and one in September where Apple introduces major revisions to the iPhones. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar.
Nier: Automata review: 'Ridiculous and unabashed'
Few games do such a representative job in their first thirty minutes as Nier: Automata. This genre-skipping RPG opens its story with a whistle-stop tour through several play styles, from vertical shoot em up, third person action, 2D platformer, horizontal blaster, top-down twin-stick shooter and some others I've probably forgotten, before setting you up to fight a giant mechanised oil rig. Forget the Automata suffix, this game should probably be called Nier: WTF?. Nier: Automata is actually a sequel to last generation's Nier, itself a spin-off from the Drakengard series, but don't worry about any of that. You don't need any prior knowledge of what's gone before, especially when Nier: Automata's story takes place a couple of thousand years after the first game. The plot revolves around an alien invasion that has seen the last of humanity escape to the moon, while earth has been taken over by robots. Rather put out by this, humans have been sending androids back to earth to battle these interlopers, including your character, 2B.
Creepy new app matches pictures of strangers with their Facebook profile within seconds
A British entrepreneur claims to have created an app capable of tracking anyone down on Facebook just by analysing a picture of their face. Facezam, which plans to launch on iOS later this month, claims to scan billions of Facebook photos per second, which it accesses through a database for developers. According to its website, Facezam works with 70% accuracy, and can link an image to a Facebook account within seconds. However, that figure is said to drop to 55% when a person's face is positioned at an angle or partly covered by sunglasses, hair or a hat. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar.
Cartoon: What Happens When AI Masters the March Madness
For our non-US readers, March Madness is a nickname given to NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments. It is a sports phenomenon that is very popular in the US. The affliction causes many people to fill a bracket to predict who will win at each stage. Offices typically have a March Madness pool, with the winner getting the prize. New KDnuggets Cartoon looks at what happens when AI masters the March Madness.
The optimist's guide to the robot apocalypse
Machines, you may have heard, are coming for all the jobs. Artificial intelligence handles insurance claims and basic bookkeeping, manages investment portfolios, does legal research, and performs basic HR tasks. Human labor doesn't stand a chance against them--after the "automation apocalypse," only those with spectacular abilities and the owners of the robots will thrive. But before you start campaigning for a universal basic income and set up a bunker, you might want to also familiarize yourself with the competing theory: In the long run, we're going to be just fine. Our modern fear that robots will steal all the jobs fits a classic script. Nearly 500 years ago, Queen Elizabeth I cited the same fear when she denied an English inventor named William Lee a patent for an automated knitting contraption.
Indian startups bet on AI in 2017: Report
As data science gets set to drive the artifical intelligence (AI) market in 2017, a few Indian startups are initiating development of conversational bots, speech recognition tools, intelligent digital assistants and conversational services to be built over social media channels, a joint study by PwC-Assocham said on Thursday. Organisations are looking to leverage AI capabilities for predictive modelling. "Online shopping portals have extensively been using predictive capabilities to gauge consumer interest in products by building a targeted understanding of preferences through collection of browsing and click-stream data, and effectively targeting and engaging customers using a multichannel approach," the report added. To enable consumers to find better products at low prices, machine learning algorithms are being deployed for better matching of supply with consumer demand. Some of the areas where AI can improve legal processes, said the findings, include improved discovery and analysis based on law case history and formulation of legal arguments based on identification of relevant evidence.
Social Robots
A baby seal robot called PARO has played a prominent role in animal therapy in hospitals and senior citizens homes in Japan and Europe since 2003. PARO has become the darling of many a patient successfully replacing live animals If demand of social robots like PARO was to increase, the robot-human interactions will expand social and cultural communication patterns. With the advances in robotics and affective computing, the relationship between robots and humans in society is changing. The combination of context-awareness, motoric skills and affective behaviour opens a wide field for robotic assistants or even robotic companions. Films like WALL-E (2008) or Her (2013) show that robots or artificial intelligence are no longer just means to an end but start to be seen as cultural entities.
Robot buses will hit the streets of Dubai by 2019
In its drive to become a city of the future, authorities in Dubai have purchased a network of robotic pods to shuttle people to a man-made island. The transport system will see 25 driverless buses connecting Bluewaters island, which is currently under construction, with the mainland. It is hoped that the system will one day ferry up to 10,000 people back and forth every hour. A new network of 25 driverless buses will connect a man-made island, which is currently under construction, with mainland Dubai. Pictured is a pod which operates under Masdar City in neighbouring emirate Abu Dhabi.
Report: Trump Gives CIA Authority for Drone Strikes
Obama's emphasis on drones was met with controversy, particularly following reports in Afghanistan, the tribal areas of Pakistan's northwest region and in Yemen of errant strikes that killed civilians, prompting Obama to turn over responsibility for drone strikes to the military, which under its authorities for war must report them to Congress. It remains unclear whether the CIA needs to or does so for each of its covert drone activities.
World's first 3D-printed skyscraper to be built in UAE
A construction firm based in Dubai has announced plans to build the world's first 3D-printed skyscraper. The company, called Cazza, has confirmed that it will be erected in the United Arab Emirates. It says it will use a new technique called "crane printing" to create the building. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar. Japan's On-Art Corp's CEO Kazuya Kanemaru poses with his company's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot'TRX03' and other robots during a demonstration in Tokyo, Japan Japan's On-Art Corp's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot'TRX03' performs during its unveiling in Tokyo, Japan Singulato Motors co-founder and CEO Shen Haiyin poses in his company's concept car Tigercar P0 at a workshop in Beijing, China A picture shows Singulato Motors' concept car Tigercar P0 at a workshop in Beijing, China Connected company president Shigeki Tomoyama addresses a press briefing as he elaborates on Toyota's "connected strategy" in Tokyo.